Light daily schedule, long weekends in Delaware, no campaign events . . . It’s significant, even if Democrats won’t admit it.
Axios notices the drum I’ve been beating for a few weeks now, that while President Joe Biden is appearing at a lot of off-camera Democratic Party fundraising events, he’s not out appearing at the usual campaign rallies with Democratic candidates.
And he’s yet to headline any campaign rallies this month where he is in front of big audiences to make his closing argument. By contrast, in October of 2018, Trump held 15 rallies across the country, according to data compiled by Brendan Doherty, a U.S. Naval Academy professor. President Obama hosted 12 rallies in October of 2010.
This is significant for three reasons.
First, the White House said back in late August that Biden would be out there, “embracing the role as his party’s top campaigner” with a “more aggressive” attitude. Those White House aides probably expected that Biden’s approval rating would have rebounded more by now. If the Tim Ryans, Mark Kellys, or Catherine Cortez Mastos of the world wanted Biden out there and thought he would help, he would be out there. Biden’s approval rating is still lousy nationally and it’s even lower in those key states.
Second, as I keep noticing to the outrage of many, Biden operates on a light schedule by presidential standards. He rarely has more than two public events per day, and they are rarely early in the morning or late at night. When you point this out, a lot of people scream about Trump golfing and “executive time.”
During the 2020 presidential campaign, you likely heard a lot of jokes and grumbling about Biden’s “basement campaign” and heavy use of Zoom calls, choices that we were told were a necessary precaution to protect Biden from Covid-19. Well, maybe it was Covid, and maybe it’s because Biden was in his late 70s and turns 80 next month, and just doesn’t have the energy level or physical or mental stamina he had when he was senator or vice president. We’ve already seen coverage in places like the New York Times that Biden’s schedulers “try to guard Mr. Biden’s weekends in Delaware as much as possible.” (With three weeks and change until Election Day, Biden appears likely to spend this coming Saturday to Monday in Delaware again.)
“So what, the president is old and needs quiet weekends to recharge, what’s the big deal, Jim?” The big deal is that the White House won’t be honest about it, and folks like Karine Jean-Pierre claim Biden has so much energy, she “can’t even keep up with him.” The country knew Biden was old and had lost a step when they elected him. Just stop lying to us about this!
Third, if Biden needs a minimal travel and public-appearance schedule when campaigning for other Democrats in 2022, when he’s almost 80 years old . . . how the heck is he going to handle the travel and public-appearance schedule when campaigning for his own reelection in 2024, when he’ll be almost 82 years old?
If you think Biden isn’t going to be capable of running for reelection in 2024 or serving another term, and that Democrats ought to be contemplating other options, Biden’s light schedule and absence from campaign rallies are extremely significant.